As old as my mom

I think I confused "B" Is For Betsy with Understood Betsy, another old book. But this book, by Carolyn Haywood, is about the first grade year of Betsy, in a place and time much simpler than our own. The children read more like preschoolers in modern books, especially in the chapter about the circus. The book was written in 1939, which makes it about as old as my mother.

Young Betsy does get to walk to school by herself, but she gets lost and relies on a stranger to drive her in. She goes mad one day and PICKS FLOWERS that don't belong to her, but she soon repents and goes to make restitution. I can't see either of my kids reading this book, unless like me they have a historical interest in what books thought kids were like back in the old days. Maybe if I tell them it's as old as Gramma they'll read it to see if the dinosaurs roamed the earth. The author wrote other books that I remember enjoying, so maybe kids today will also like to read about the days when birthday parties had prizes only for the winner, and girls wore skirts, and mothers wore hats. B-